Barlborough Hall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Barlborough House

In the civil parish of Barlborough.
In the historic county of Derbyshire.
Modern Authority of Derbyshire.
1974 county of Derbyshire.
Medieval County of Derbyshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK47777825
Latitude 53.29915° Longitude -1.28468°

Barlborough Hall has been described as a probable Fortified Manor House.

There are major building remains.

This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Country house built for Sir Francis Rodes, a judge, and patronized by the Earl of Shrewsbury. Dated 1583 on the porch and 1584 on the Great Chamber overmantel. Probably by Robert Smythson. Now a Jesuit Prep School. (PastScape)

Barlborough Hall is one of the most interesting Elizabethan smaller country houses. Early authorities, and the presence of Roman coins, may suggest that the hall stands upon the site of an earlier mansion or fortified dwelling, although there is no extant archaeological evidence for this. The present hall was built between 1583-4, and was planned and built in one operation. Although externally the principal elevations suggest a completely symmetrical plan, in response to the prevailing influence of Renaissance thought, the principal rooms are arranged on the traditional Great Hall concept. Overall, Barlborough Hall represents the fully-domesticated 'four-square castle keep' without the curtain walls. The inner walls are as much as six and a half foot thick, whilst the principal staircase is based upon the spiral and is in stone. The plan is approximately square, with all the rooms being grouped around the central light well. The main floor is raised above the ground, following the traditional plan of a Manor House layout no less than the Renaissance idea of the 'Piano Nobile', or Grand Floor. (Derbyshire HER ref. Battersby, 2005)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1108972
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 523500.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 1105.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Derbyshire Heritage
  Wikipedia entry
Books
- Goodall, John, 2011, The English Castle 1066-1650 (Yale University Press) p. 459, 462
  Craven, Maxwell and Stanley, Michael, 2001, The Derbyshire Country House (Landmark Publishing) Vol. 1 p. 26-27
  Girouard, Mark, 1983, Robert Smythson and the Elizabethan Country House (Yale University Press)
  Pevsner, N., 1979 (2edn), The Buildings of England: Derbyshire p. 81-3
  Wade, M.R. (ed), 1971, A History of Barlborough an Ancient Derbyshire Parish (Barlborough Historical Society)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk East Midlands Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 4 (new entry) online copy
  Dave Barrett, Gill Stroud, 2009, Extensive Urban Survey - Derbyshire (English Heritage) Download copy
  Battersby, I., 2005, Barlborough Hall (two volumes). HER Doc. No. 1257

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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